Aviation management students visit terminal 3 major upgrade works

VINCI Construction UK has recently undertaken hugely complex and challenging work to upgrade Terminal 3 at Heathrow Airport.  Aviation Management students from Coventry University took time out of their summer break to learn directly from the contractors about how to successfully undertake a large-scale upgrade whilst the airport is in use.

Coventry University’s BSc Aviation Management course features a programme of hosted site visits at major and regional airports within the UK and overseas, the latest of which was arranged in conjunction with VINCI Construction UK to observe the company’s upgrade works at Heathrow.

The Baggage Reclaim area and Immigration Hall have undergone a total facelift with new floors, ceiling and walls.  Re-modelling of the facilities to make airline operations more efficient, such as increased security lanes and a new extension to the flight connections centre, has also all been carried out around the 55,000 daily departing passengers within Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 3.

These works are the latest in a string of successful projects at Heathrow Terminal 3 over the past 8 years and demonstrate the skill, care and planning involved in carrying out airport improvement works.

The VINCI Construction UK team at Terminal 3 are Considerate Contractors Scheme award winners and they are setting standards in the top 7% of the Construction industry. 

Jenni Fernando, Senior Lecturer in Aviation Management, Coventry University
“Having undertaken a number of 'airport operator' hosted visits, it was particularly useful for us to gain the contractor view of airport operations and to better understand the massive challenges of major work within a live operational building. It very much reinforced the 'complex system - stakeholder approach' that we continually emphasise throughout the course teaching.”

David Buisson, BAA Capital Projects Leader, Head of Capital Projects, Terminal 3 Heathrow Airport
“This has been one of the most challenging projects we have had to deliver and the efforts your team have made to successfully deliver this project should not be underestimated. I am extremely pleased with their work on this project”

Jason Griffiths, Operations Director, Air Division at VINCI CONSTRUCTION UK
“As a Framework Contractor for BAA at Terminal 3, we must continually deliver high quality results and cannot afford any mistakes or delays, especially where the travelling public are involved. The work at Terminal 3 has been very challenging but rewarding when you see the significant transformation.  I hope the students learnt a lot from their visit and go on to deliver successful projects themselves.”

Published29/07/11